Helga's childhood as the eldest of five children in Germany's First Family has been a gilded one, accompanying her parents to parties and rallies, moving between the city and their idyllic country estate. But the war has changed everything. And now, as defeat closes in on the Germans, Helga must move into a bunker in the heart of Berlin with her family and key members of the crumbling Nazi leadership - to be with their beloved Hitler. There is chocolate cake for tea every day with Uncle Leader, but Helga cannot help noticing that all is not well among the grown-ups. As each day passes, her underground world becomes increasingly tense and strange. There are tears and shouting behind slammed doors, and when even the soldiers who have been guarding them take their leave, Helga is faced with a terrible truth. Perhaps her perfect childhood has not been all that it seemed...
Chocolate Cake With Hitler
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Told with child-like innocence, Chocolate Cake with Hitler is a poignant insight into the dying days of the Third Reich... --Daily Mail, February 2010
Emma Craigie's poised style is powerful and stripped of sentimentality, and she skillfully enters the psyche of the young Helga Goebbels... --Independent on Sunday, February 2010
Emma Craigie shines a light on the dark interior world of Nazi Germany. --The Catholic Herald, March 2010
A powerful novel of a childhood lost that shows all too clearly that in war, all children are victims...
-- Rebecca's Book Blog
Emma Craigie's poised style is powerful and stripped of sentimentality, and she skillfully enters the psyche of the young Helga Goebbels... --Independent on Sunday, February 2010
Emma Craigie shines a light on the dark interior world of Nazi Germany. --The Catholic Herald, March 2010
A powerful novel of a childhood lost that shows all too clearly that in war, all children are victims...
-- Rebecca's Book Blog
About the Author
Emma Craigie is a writer and teacher. She is also author of Who Was - King Henry VIII (Short Books, 2006). She lives in Somerset with her husband and four children.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Chocolate Cake with Hitler marks the emotional development of Joseph Goebbels' eldest child, Helga, in her struggle to understand the war from its very hub: inside Hitler's personal bunker. In between the captivating description of a young girl's childhood that is never outlived, and the lashings of Nazi family secrecy by which that short life is defined, in particular its last days, is born an especially perceptive and tragic insight into the fall of Hitler's Germany. Wonderfully written with a confidence that innocently alludes to, rather than condemningly portrays, a cruel yet momentous period in history through the unrealised wisdom of Helga's twelve-year old voice, Chocolate Cake with Hitler truly is a book that will remain with you well after you turn the last page. Excellent.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By T. LEVY
Format:Paperback
I have to admit to being slightly concerned at the outset. Being a 'cultural Jew', I wondered how appropriate the story was going to be in comparison to the murder of more than 6,000.000 Jews, gypies, homosexual and people on the fringes of society. However, I was deeply moved by the plight of Helga and her siblings. It became clear early on that this was a tragic untold story which if anything portrayed the children as a microcosm of the bigger picture, and victims of the brutal Nazi regime. It is brilliantly told and well written account from the childs perspective.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Using documentary data for historical facts and personages,
Emma Craigie has imaginatively entered the mind and speaks with the voice of Helga, the eldest daughter of Josef Goebbels. The last ten days in Hitler's bunker (as portrayed in the film "Downfall") are recounted in Helga's own words,each day punctuated by a flashback to earlier,
apparently happier times in her unchosen life near the very centre of the Nazi madness. A brilliant and searing achievement.
Emma Craigie has imaginatively entered the mind and speaks with the voice of Helga, the eldest daughter of Josef Goebbels. The last ten days in Hitler's bunker (as portrayed in the film "Downfall") are recounted in Helga's own words,each day punctuated by a flashback to earlier,
apparently happier times in her unchosen life near the very centre of the Nazi madness. A brilliant and searing achievement.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Book Club Choice!
It's so sad as we know what happened to the children eventually, but it is told with a great deal of humour and life that you want to read on. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Pam
5.0 out of 5 stars
Deceptively simple, well researched and moving
It is often sad when a book is drawing to a close; in this book, the dread is tenfold, knowing that it can only end in one, terrible way. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Emily
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended fictionalised account of the family of one of the...
This was published in 2010 and has not received the recognition or the sales it really deserves; it is certainly as good as, if not better than, books shortlisted for the Carnegie... Read more
Published 16 months ago by B. A. V. MIDDLEMAST-NEAL
5.0 out of 5 stars
Chocolate Cake with Hitler
I had never contemplated Hitler's world through the eyes of a child, and this book was a revelation. Having the story told by Helga, a twelve year old girl, worked beautifully. Read more
Published 18 months ago by J. Picknell
5.0 out of 5 stars
A haunting tale
Beautifully written and very sad.It was sugested that these childrens names should go on the Holocaust memorial and they should.They were as much victims as anyone.
Published on 25 Nov 2010 by Elizabeth A. Agarwal
5.0 out of 5 stars
Genuine Gem
The book about Helga, a 12 year old girl who finds herself living in the same bunker with Adolf Hitler. Read more
Published on 3 Aug 2010
4.0 out of 5 stars
HITLER THE FAMILY MAN
Emma Craigie has cleverly lighted on a way of presenting a macabre slice of history from a palatable view point which, under the circumstances, is not easy. Read more
Published on 25 Mar 2010 by JK Costelloe
4.0 out of 5 stars
A tragic tale of a childhood lost to war.
During the final days of World War II in April 1945, twelve-year-old Helga Goebbels, daughter of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, is brought to Berlin, along with her... Read more
Published on 21 Mar 2010 by Rebecca Herman
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Childhood Betrayed
Just finished Chocolate Cake With Hitler and am haunted by it. Counting down the last days in the Bunker, Helga, the eldest of the Goebbels children, knows things are not right,... Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2010 by M. H. Powell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Good
The book beautifully captures the uncomfortable place between childhood/adulthood and innocence/knowledge against the devastating background of world war two.
Published on 4 Feb 2010 by Jane Graham
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